| Court rejects appeal from man convicted in dying blink case Posted: 22 May 2020 02:26 PM PDT |
| DA: Son confesses to fatally stabbing dad during Zoom call Posted: 22 May 2020 02:19 PM PDT |
| NOT REAL NEWS: A look at what didn't happen this week Posted: 22 May 2020 01:42 PM PDT  None of these are legit, even though they were shared widely on social media. CLAIM: Michigan sent absentee ballots to 7.7 million people ahead of primaries and the general election. This was done illegally and without authorization by a rogue secretary of state.
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| She Escaped An Abusive Relationship In Her 60s — & This Program Changed Her Life Posted: 22 May 2020 01:30 PM PDT  Ideally, home should feel warm. But for the 10 million people who experience domestic violence every year, home can be a scary and unsafe place. On average, nearly 20 people in the U.S. are physically abused by an intimate partner every minute. As COVID-19 continues to spread across the country, forcing people to stay indoors, that number may be growing. Estimates suggest that three months of quarantine could result in a 20% rise in intimate partner violence, according to the United Nations Population Fund. Although in some cities calls to hotlines have been less frequent throughout the pandemic, experts tell The Marshall Project they believe that's because people have fewer opportunities to reach out for help. Their abusers may not be leaving the house to go to work, for instance, removing a critical window that could allow them to break free.During the "Night Of Solidarity," a fundraising event on May 13 that helped raise money for domestic violence prevention organizations (full video here), survivors shared their stories. To bring more awareness to the issue, we interviewed Vondell West, a 67-year-old woman who credits DASH (the District Alliance for Safe Housing) in Washington, D.C., with helping her turn her life around after leaving an abusive partner. This is her story.My name is Vondell West and I'm 67 years old. I'm a native Washingtonian, I was born here, and a mother of three with five grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren. After completing the DASH program, I was able to get my own place. Here's how it all started.I was in a relationship. We had known each other for about three or four years before we moved in together. But when we moved in together, things changed. He had had one of his legs amputated because he had diabetes, and he was receiving his disability and his retirement and I was working as a volunteer at the time. So one day, I asked him for bus fare to go to work and he told me he didn't have any. Every time I began to ask him for something, he didn't have it.One day I just came out and asked him what's up, and he said, "I'm not giving you nothing." So, that kind of threw me for a loop. From then on anything I wanted or needed in the apartment, I had to get on my own. That went on for a while.As we went along, there was no communication in the house, he didn't want to talk about anything. I was on his telephone plan. And one day, my phone just didn't work. He had taken me off the phone plan and had not told me. And when I asked him about it, of course, he lied. He lied about it.Then, it was verbal abuse every day. Nothing I did was right. Everything that went wrong in the apartment was my fault. All kinds of little crazy things. And this went on for a while. And then, one day, I was carrying groceries all the way from Northeast to Southeast on the bus and the train. When I stepped off the bus, he rode right past me with a woman in the car. It was so close I looked right in his face; I could tell you what she had on and everything. When he came home, I tried my best not to say nothing because I knew I was gonna get real angry. I asked him about it. Of course, he lied. He said he didn't give nobody no ride. And I kind of lost it then. So, my eyes was wide open by then.She started coming to the house. I would go out in the morning, and the car was missing. I had gave him money — at this point, I was earning some. I had helped him to get a car because we had both needed transportation. So I had saved up as much as I could, and I gave him $500 towards the down payment — and yet I'm carrying groceries and I'm traveling by bus and by train, and he's riding this person around. He would no longer pick me up from the subway when I worked. And if I wanted to go to the grocery store, I had to get up at 6 in the morning, 'cause he had other things to do. That was just too much. At this point, the neighbors started asking me who was that driving the car. Stress had started to build up. I'd try to sit in the house when I came home and not say nothing at all, because I was afraid things was gonna get out of hand.Then, one day, I had just had knee surgery and I came home and she was at the door. That day I think we both kind of lost it, things just flying around the house. He was hollering that I need to get out, the sooner the better, and all that kind of stuff. He even took me to court to get me out. I wasn't making that much money, and I couldn't afford an apartment on my own. So, it took me a minute — I couldn't just leave.At the time I was working as an interim counselor, so I had helped refer people to different organizations for help. I went to one of these centers for my own problem, but they turned me away. I went back to work and I sat at my desk and was about to cry, and I guess the good Lord told me to go back over there. And that's how I was referred to Ms. Zaneta Greene.She came to my office and we talked, and that's how she told me all about the program for domestic violence. And it was such a blessing. She told me it is a process and I had to be as patient as I could. She asked me did I need immediate assistance and I thought I was okay. I was just going to trust the process, and thank God I did.When we went to court, the judge gave me 60 days to leave the premises, and the call came from DASH just after we went to court. So I was able to leave within my 60 days. And that's how I got to DASH. I first started speaking with Ms. Zaneta during the summer, and I moved into DASH in January. I ended up living there for two years, until January 2020.One thing I hope people take away from my story is that there should be more laws protecting people who are not legally married. Just because you're not married legally, no piece of paper, it seems like you have no entitlement. Because there are a lot of us.Leaving the relationship was very, very challenging. As an older woman, you would think that you could see things differently. You would think that two people at our age would know that communication is important and just to be able to deal with punches and not be so in a hurry to have things your way. I had stood by him through his surgery and his rehabilitation, and a long time even after that. I was expecting nothing else, just give me time to get out. It was also very, very challenging because it was at a time in my life when I really did not want to once again ask my family for help, at my age. I didn't want to become another burden to them, because it's somebody else's mess. And it was challenging because I felt, probably just as much as he felt like he wanted to hurt me, like I really wanted to hurt him. But I knew at my age, I'm too old to go to jail, and I used to be a drug addict. I could not go backwards after all the hard work I had put in to change my life around and to be a better person.I was also in a position where I didn't have a lot of money saved up. I had a lot of credit card bills. I had bought furniture when we moved in, trying to make the place nice and homey for both of us. > I don't think I would have been able to survive if I didn't have my advocate to talk to. She didn't press me or push me to do anything. It was always at my time, when I was ready.> > Vondell WestI never saw the apartment at DASH until the day I moved in. And then, they took me up to the unit. The minute I walked in, I felt 20 pounds of relief leave me. The place was clean. It was freshly painted. It was a godsend. I was extremely happy. Because I like everything tidy and clean, the apartment just exceeded all of what I was looking for. I really, really felt blessed. The whole staff was so professional and friendly at all times. Somebody was at the desk when I came out in the morning to go to work and we would say good morning, and everything was good. Somebody was there when I came home in the evening and it was a joy to come home.We took all kinds of classes, like on financial management. I took every class they offered, because I wanted to get to meet the other residents of the building so we could better support each other. Because I already knew how important that was. Because you could get behind your closed doors and try to lock everything out, but that wouldn't be helpful at all.The classes were so helpful because they inspired me, and it also reminded me that that was only a temporary spot. I was just passing through DASH. My goal was to get my own place.The first year, I signed up for every apartment waiting list there was. I spent my first year paying off bills, saving up my money, looking for a place. I also continued talking with my advocate. I don't think I would have been able to survive had she not been available to me to do that. There were things that I wasn't ready to talk about, and there were things I needed to talk about. And she didn't press me or push me to do anything. It was always at my time, when I was ready.There were so many blessings in coming to DASH. I could walk to work, I was so close to my job. So for two years, I was able to not only walk to work to save money, but get exercise. I had got so comfortable there, I didn't want to move out. And I felt like I had created a new family because somebody was always there for me. Always. Always there to listen or help me if there was something I need. I knew that I had to move out because it was a two-year program. But I felt that I was ready because it gave me all of the opportunities to work on my emotional wellbeing while I was there.I had already had childhood issues. My mom gave me away when I was an infant. So, I knew that I had abandonment issues. Anytime somebody goes through something like that, it'll kick up instantly. I don't care how long you've been clean, how well you think you've got everything under control, they just pop up instantly. So, you know, I felt like I was abandoned again. But then again, I had all that time to work on those emotions. Now, I'm living in a brand-new senior building. It is really nice. I wasn't able to get my furniture yet because the stores closed down on me with coronavirus, but as soon as they open then I can go and make a couple of purchases. Other than that, God is still looking after me. I'm able to work from home, so I'm still getting a paycheck. I'm now a case manager at a substance abuse treatment center. I still keep up with my support group so if there's anything that I need to discuss or get off my chest, I call somebody right away and we do that.I have been in D.C. all my life and I've worked with many organizations. But I have never, ever encountered an organization as great as DASH, all of its volunteers, the monitors, the advocates, the staff. They really put their heart into that program. 100%. They try their best to help you. Where can you go and live for two years and not pay anything, and it's nice and clean? It's absolutely beautiful, the love, and the people that contribute to it — they think about all of the residents. You can feel the love, the concern, the sincerity. Every day. It is a wonderful program. Absolutely wonderful.If you are experiencing domestic violence, please call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 or TTY 1-800-787-3224 for confidential support. This interview has been condensed for length and clarity.Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here?How To Help Combat Domestic Violence Right NowHow Coronavirus May Increase Domestic ViolenceI Was Abused By My Husband. Then I Was Arrested.
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| UN-supported Libya gov't takes back Tripoli area from rivals Posted: 22 May 2020 12:56 PM PDT |
| Boris Johnson to reduce Huawei’s role in Britain’s 5G network in the wake of coronavirus outbreak Posted: 22 May 2020 12:39 PM PDT  The Prime Minister plans to reduce Huawei's involvement in Britain's 5G network in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak, the Telegraph has learned. Boris Johnson has instructed officials to draw up plans that would see China's involvement in the UK's infrastructure scaled down to zero by 2023. It comes as Mr Johnson is poised to visit the US for the G7 summit next month in his first trip abroad since the crisis began. Having called for the UK to become more self-sufficient and less reliant on China for goods, he is expected to ramp up trade talks with US President Donald Trump as Brexit negotiations with the EU have become increasingly fractious. The rethinking of the Huawei deal follows a growing backlash among Tory MPs against Chinese investment following the global pandemic, which originated in Wuhan. The Communist state has been accused of covering up the initial scale of the infection while Chinese hackers are suspected of breaking into US Covid-19 research. A recent cyber attack which exposed the data of around nine million easyJet customers has been also linked to Beijing.
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| Police: Remains IDed in Long Island serial killer case Posted: 22 May 2020 12:37 PM PDT |
| FBI director orders internal review of Flynn investigation Posted: 22 May 2020 12:01 PM PDT  FBI Director Christopher Wray has ordered an internal review into possible misconduct in the investigation of former Trump administration national security adviser Michael Flynn, the bureau said Friday. The after-action review will examine whether any current employees engaged in misconduct during the course of the investigation and evaluate whether any improvements in FBI policies and procedures need to be made. In announcing the review, the FBI, a frequent target of President Donald Trump's wrath, is stepping into a case that has become a rallying cry for Trump supporters — and doing so right as the Justice Department pushes back against criticism that its recent decision to dismiss the prosection was a politically motivated effort to do Trump's bidding.
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| Trump’s urging stokes furor in debate over in-person worship Posted: 22 May 2020 11:21 AM PDT  President Donald Trump's declaration that religious services should be "essential" comes at a precarious point in the national balancing act that pits the call of worship against the risk of coronavirus. The new CDC guidance could energize houses of worship that might want to reopen their doors, despite evidence of ongoing risk of the virus spreading through communal gatherings. While it suggests steps such as asking congregants to cover their faces and limiting the sharing of worship aids, the CDC document says it is "not meant to regulate or prescribe standards for interactions of faith communities."
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| Disrupted vaccinations pose deadly threat to 80m kids: UN Posted: 22 May 2020 11:05 AM PDT  The coronavirus pandemic is putting tens of millions of children's lives at risk by disrupting routine immunisation programmes, the World Health Organization and UNICEF said Friday. The United Nations agencies joined forces with Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, to warn that the pandemic has severely disrupted vaccination programmes in dozens of countries, paving the way for a deadly resurgence of preventable diseases.
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| Trump declares churches 'essential,' calls on them to reopen Posted: 22 May 2020 11:02 AM PDT  President Donald Trump on Friday labeled churches and other houses of worship as "essential" and called on governors nationwide to let them reopen this weekend even though some areas remain under coronavirus lockdown. "Governors need to do the right thing and allow these very important essential places of faith to open right now — for this weekend," Trump said at a hastily arranged press conference at the White House. Asked what authority Trump might have to supersede governors, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said she wouldn't answer a theoretical question.
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| UK court orders gunrunner to pay over $4.1M to UAE emirate Posted: 22 May 2020 10:09 AM PDT |
| Group: Texas naval base shooter voiced support for clerics Posted: 22 May 2020 10:02 AM PDT  The suspect killed during what the FBI is calling a "terrorism-related" attack at a Texas naval air base voiced support for hardline clerics, according to a group that monitors online activity of jihadists. The attack Thursday at Naval Air Station Corpus Christi wounded a sailor and left the gunman dead. The gunman was identified on Friday by the FBI as 20-year-old Adam Salim Alsahli of Corpus Christi.
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| Lawyer for Biden accuser Tara Reade drops her as a client Posted: 22 May 2020 09:54 AM PDT  The attorney working with Tara Reade, the former Joe Biden Senate staffer who alleged he sexually assaulted her in the 1990s, said Friday he is no longer representing her, just two weeks after he first began working with her. Douglas Wigdor said in a statement the decision to drop Reade came on Wednesday of this week, and that it wasn't a reflection on the veracity of her claims. Wigdor said he and others at his firm still believe Reade's allegation against Biden, that he digitally penetrated her and groped her in the basement of a Capitol Hill office building when she worked as a low-level staffer in his Senate office in the Spring of 1993.
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| Big study casts more doubt on malaria drugs for coronavirus Posted: 22 May 2020 09:02 AM PDT  Malaria drugs pushed by President Donald Trump as treatments for the coronavirus did not help and were tied to a greater risk of death and heart rhythm problems in a new study of nearly 100,000 patients around the world. Friday's report in the journal Lancet is not a rigorous test of hydroxychloroquine or chloroquine, but it is by far the largest look at their use in real world settings, spanning 671 hospitals on six continents. "Not only is there no benefit, but we saw a very consistent signal of harm," said one study leader, Dr. Mandeep Mehra, a heart specialist at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston.
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| NASA's newest test pilots are veteran astronauts, friends Posted: 22 May 2020 09:02 AM PDT  The two astronauts who will test drive SpaceX's brand new rocketship are classmates and friends, veteran spacefliers married to veteran spacefliers, and fathers of young sons. Together, they will end a nine-year drought for NASA when they blast into orbit next week from Florida's Kennedy Space Center. Retired Marine Col. Doug Hurley will be in charge of launch and landing, a fitting assignment for the pilot of NASA's last space shuttle flight.
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| When should New York City reopen? Cuomo says it's his call Posted: 22 May 2020 08:55 AM PDT  New York City's mayor unveiled a new set of data thresholds Friday to help determine when to loosen restrictions imposed during the coronavirus pandemic, but his frequent political sparring partner, Gov. Andrew Cuomo, later said it will be up to the state — not the city — to make those decisions. "No local official can open or close," Cuomo said, noting that the state has established its own set of metrics intended to measure the safety of reopening. The offices of both Democrats have been saying that the city, among the hardest hit in the world by the virus, is on target to begin reopening its economy in the first half of June.
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| Hong Kong’s future as a global hub in ‘peril’ Posted: 22 May 2020 08:48 AM PDT  China's sweeping plans to strip Hong Kong of democratic autonomy spell the "death knell" for the enclave's special trading and financial status and will have grave economic consequences for China itself, Washington has warned in a dramatic shot across the bows. The draft law bans "treason, secession, sedition and subversion" in Hong Kong, eviscerating the zone's 'One Nation, Two Systems' status and violating the Sino-British Joint Declaration of 1984, a commitment lodged at the United Nations. Mike Pompeo, the US secretary of state, said that if Beijing presses ahead with the "disastrous proposal" and openly flouts its international treaty obligations, the US will be forced to revoke Hong Kong's unique privileges. At stake are the essential legal exemptions that allow it to function as a global hub. The escalating showdown between the two global superpowers – and the lack of any obvious diplomatic "off-ramp" – has begun to rattle financial markets. The Hang Seng index tumbled 5.6pc and the Shanghai Composite was off almost 2pc. Brent crude fell 4pc. The Cold War clash overshadowed the announcement of a massive Chinese stimulus plan on Friday, equal in economic scale to the post-Lehman credit boom in 2009. Premier Li Keqiang rolled out a fiscal package of bonds, loans, and direct spending worth over 4pc of GDP and vowed to open the monetary flood-gates, hoping to turbo-charge recovery from Covid-19. But China's structural problems run much deeper today than they did a decade ago and hidden unemployment risks becoming a curse. Bowing to the inevitable, Li dropped the annual growth shibboleth for the first time in the modern era, a figure universally disbelieved by investors in any case. "We have not set a specific target this year. Our country will face factors that are difficult to predict due to the pandemic and the world trade environment," he said. It is a symbolic moment, an admission that the era of artificial uber-growth is over. Global commodity markets can no longer count on breakneck Chinese demand. Chris Patten, the last governor of Hong Kong, said the draft security law is a "comprehensive assault" on the rule of law and fundamental freedoms of Hong Kong agreed in the Joint Declaration.
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| Residents, businesses sue dam operator over ruinous flooding Posted: 22 May 2020 08:28 AM PDT  Residents and businesses in Central Michigan communities that were submerged when two dams failed this week on Friday sued the operator of the dams and two state agencies charged with overseeing the structures. The lawsuit came as yet more residents were forced to evacuate their homes after being overwhelmed by flooding along the Tittabawassee River and conjoining waterways. About a dozen people have left their homes in Spaulding Township where some roads and fields are under 4 to 5 feet (1.2 to 1.5 meters) of floodwater, but some in the community refused to leave despite warnings, Fire Chief Tom Fortier said Friday.
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| Pandemic halts vaccination for nearly 80 million children Posted: 22 May 2020 08:01 AM PDT  The coronavirus pandemic is interrupting immunization against diseases including measles, polio and cholera that could put the lives of nearly 80 million children under the age of 1 at risk, according to a new analysis from the World Health Organization and partners. In a new report issued on Friday, health officials warned that more than half of 129 countries where immunization data were available reported moderate, severe or total suspensions of vaccination services during March and April. "Disruption to immunization programs from the COVID-19 pandemic threatens to unwind decades of progress against vaccine-preventable diseases like measles," said WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in a statement.
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| 10th anniversary of Israeli Attack on The Mavi Marmara (Gaza Freedom Flotilla) live online discussion 2020 May 30th with filmmaker Iara Lee whose crew smuggled out assault footage, author Dr. Norman Finkelstein and ship survivors Posted: 22 May 2020 08:00 AM PDT  On May 31, 2010, filmmaker Iara Lee (director of the Cultures of Resistance Network) was on the Mavi Marmara, part of the Gaza Freedom Flotilla, when the boat was attacked by Israeli military forces. The flotilla was an effort to bring humanitarian aid to the illegally blockaded Gaza Strip, and the largest boat in the flotilla was the Mavi Marmara. In the early morning hours of May 31, Israeli commandos boarded the Mavi Marmara and opened fire on civilians, killing nine passengers (a tenth passenger died later from his injuries) and wounding dozens more. Despite Israeli attempts to confiscate all video taken during the attack on the boat, Iara Lee's film crew smuggled out footage of the assault, which she later screened at the United Nations.
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| Biden says he was too 'cavalier' about black Trump backers Posted: 22 May 2020 07:39 AM PDT  Joe Biden declared he "should not have been so cavalier" on Friday after he told a prominent black radio host that African Americans who back President Donald Trump "ain't black." The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee quickly moved to address the fallout from his remark, which was interpreted by some as presuming black Americans would vote for him. In a call with the U.S. Black Chamber of Commerce that was added to his public schedule, Biden said he would never "take the African American community for granted."
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| Presidents of Poland, Israel honor 101-year-old WWII heroine Posted: 22 May 2020 07:38 AM PDT  The presidents of Israel and Poland have sent birthday greetings to a 101-year-old Polish woman who is believed to be the be oldest living person recognized by Yad Vashem for rescuing Jews during the Holocaust. Reuven Rivlin of Israel and Andrzej Duda of Poland praised Anna Kozminska in separate letters for her courage in risking her own life to help Jews during the German occupation of Poland.
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| Egyptian acclaimed sculptor Adam Henein dies at 91 Posted: 22 May 2020 07:23 AM PDT  Acclaimed Egyptian artist Adam Henein, who joined ancient pharaonic themes with sleek modernism in sculptures that often portrayed birds and other animals, died Friday, his family said. Henein recently suffered from age-related health complications and was taken to a hospital in Cairo where he died, said Essam Darwish, deputy director of Henein's foundation. Henein was born in 1929 in Cairo to a family of silversmiths and jewelry makers from the southern province of Assiout.
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| Putin says coronavirus situation in Russia has stabilized Posted: 22 May 2020 07:11 AM PDT  President Vladimir Putin said Friday the coronavirus outbreak in Russia has begun to abate, creating a positive environment for easing restrictions, as officials defended the country's data on deaths against claims they were being under-reported. Speaking during a video conference with top officials, Putin pointed at the decreasing number of new infections in Moscow and other regions. Russia currently ranks second after the United States in the number of infections with 326,448 cases, including 3,249 deaths.
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| Pompeo: China measure a 'death knell' for Hong Kong autonomy Posted: 22 May 2020 06:58 AM PDT  Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Friday condemned China's effort to take over national security legislation in Hong Kong, calling it "a death knell for the high degree of autonomy" that Beijing had promised the territory. Pompeo called for Beiing to reconsider the move and warned of an unspecified U.S. response if it proceeds. Meanwhile, White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett said China risked a major flight of capital from Hong Kong that would end the territory's status as the financial hub of Asia.
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| US wants WHO review of COVID-19 response to start 'now' Posted: 22 May 2020 06:39 AM PDT  The United States says it wants the World Health Organization to start work "now" on a planned independent review of its coordinated international response to the COVID-19 outbreak, at a time the Trump administration has repeatedly criticized the agency and is threatening to cut off U.S. funding for it. Adm. Brett Giroir, an assistant secretary in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, sent a letter to the U.N. health agency's executive board meeting on Friday saying the United States believes the WHO can "immediately initiate" preparations such as bringing together independent health experts and setting up guidelines for the review.
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| Memorial Day tempts Americans outdoors, raising virus fears Posted: 22 May 2020 06:35 AM PDT  Millions of Americans are getting ready to emerge from coronavirus lockdowns and venture outdoors to celebrate Memorial Day weekend at beaches, cookouts and family outings, raising concern among public health officials that large gatherings could cause outbreaks to come roaring back. Dr. Seth Cohen, an infectious disease expert at the University of Washington Medical Center-Northwest in Seattle, advised that people keep their distance, wear masks and avoid sharing food and drinks. Dr. Deborah Birx, coordinator of the White House coronavirus task force, said Friday that people can enjoy the outdoors if they stay at least 6 feet (2 meters) apart.
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| In Mexico City, experts find bones of dozens of mammoths Posted: 22 May 2020 06:33 AM PDT  Archaeologists have found the bones of about 60 mammoths at an airport under construction just north of Mexico City, near human-built 'traps' where more than a dozen mammoths were found last year. Both discoveries reveal how appealing the area — once a shallow lake — was for the mammoths, and how erroneous was the classic vision of groups of fur-clad hunters with spears chasing mammoths across a plain. Humans may have been smarter — and mammoths clumsier — than people had previously thought.
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| Rwanda genocide suspect Bizimana dead: UN tribunal Posted: 22 May 2020 06:29 AM PDT  Former Rwandan defence minister Augustin Bizimana, one of the top suspects wanted over the country's 1994 genocide, has died, the UN tribunal said Friday. Bizimana had been indicted by the United Nations' International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in 1998. The 13 counts included genocide, murder, rape and torture, including the murder of former prime minister Agathe Uwilingiyimana and 10 Belgian UN peacekeepers.
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| VIRUS DIARY: Facing the coronavirus, still haunted by Ebola Posted: 22 May 2020 06:17 AM PDT  DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — "Are you going to die?" my 8-year-old daughter asked me the other day. Virus Diary, an occasional feature, showcases the coronavirus saga through the eyes of Associated Press journalists around the world.
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| Bosnia to probe alleged police brutality in migrant camp Posted: 22 May 2020 06:08 AM PDT |
| Augustin Bizimana: Remains of top Rwanda genocide suspect found Posted: 22 May 2020 05:58 AM PDT  Augustin Bizimana was defence minister when about 800,000 people were killed in 100 days.
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| China's Hong Kong Crackdown Could Put Trump in an Unwelcome Spot Posted: 22 May 2020 05:20 AM PDT  WASHINGTON -- China's plans to impose sweeping new security powers over Hong Kong could inflict even more damage on already fraught relations between Washington and Beijing, and force President Donald Trump into uncomfortable decisions about whether to maintain his self-described friendly ties with the Chinese president, Xi Jinping.The proposal announced in Beijing on Thursday provoked outrage in Congress, where bipartisan support grew quickly for new sanctions on Chinese officials and entities that Trump -- who has shown limited interest in Hong Kong's plight and a continued desire to carry out terms of a trade deal with Beijing -- may not welcome.Giving the government broad new powers to crack down on pro-democracy activists could effectively end Hong Kong's limited independence and crush a protest movement that has agitated for nearly a year against China's authoritarian Communist Party."This move by Beijing would rip away the remaining veneer of 'one country, two systems.' It would precipitate a crisis in U.S.-China relations," said Evan Medeiros, a senior Asia director at the National Security Council under President Barack Obama and a professor at Georgetown University."Nationalist voices in the U.S. and China would have a party with this; 2020 is beginning to feel more and more like 1948 when the first crises of the Cold War broke out over Berlin," Medeiros said, predicting that the United States and China would probably impose sanctions or other punishments on each other.The Chinese government, which announced the move, is likely to put it in place by fiat during the National People's Congress, which begins Friday. How Trump will react is unclear.Leaving the White House for a trip to Michigan on Thursday, he told reporters that he did not know "what it is," but added, "If it happens, we'll address that issue very strongly."The White House otherwise had no comment.When mass demonstrations against Beijing took place in Hong Kong last summer, Trump -- who has shown little interest in issues of democracy and human rights generally -- had a muted response despite bipartisan pressure to show more support for a protest movement with open sympathies for the United States.And even as he has lashed out at China's government for its handling of the winter coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan, helping to prompt the sharpest downturn in relations with Beijing in decades, Trump has taken care not to insult or offend Xi. Because of the pandemic's economic toll, China has yet to meet purchasing demands outlined in a January trade agreement between the two nations. Trump and his economic advisers would like to see the deal fulfilled to aid his reelection prospects.But in recent months the Trump campaign has increasingly focused on its message of China as a villainous threat to American economic and security interests, while portraying Trump's Democratic opponent, former Vice President Joe Biden, as too conciliatory toward Beijing. Trump has repeatedly muddied that message with his deferential tone toward Xi."Any effort to impose national security legislation that does not reflect the will of the people of Hong Kong would be highly destabilizing, and would be met with strong condemnation from the United States and the international community," Morgan Ortagus, a State Department spokeswoman, said in a statement on Thursday."We urge Beijing to honor its commitments and obligations in the Sino-British Joint Declaration -- including that Hong Kong will 'enjoy a high degree of autonomy' and that people of Hong Kong will enjoy human rights and fundamental freedoms -- which are key to preserving Hong Kong's special status in international affairs, and, consistent with U.S. law, the United States' current treatment of Hong Kong," she said.Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has said the State Department has yet to issue to Congress a mandatory report examining the autonomous status of Hong Kong in order to gauge continuing actions from Beijing before coming to a conclusion. The department might recommend that the United States no longer give Hong Kong preferential treatment as a territory that has autonomy under China.By midday Thursday, Sen. Patrick Toomey, R-Pa., and Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., announced that they would propose legislation to impose sanctions on Chinese officials and entities that enforce the planned national security laws.The measure would also impose sanctions on banks that do business with entities deemed to violate the Basic Law, a legal document that is supposed to guarantee Hong Kong significant autonomy until 2047."The communist regime in Beijing would like nothing more than to extinguish the autonomy of Hong Kong and the rights of its people," Toomey said in a statement. "In many ways, Hong Kong is the canary in the coal mine for Asia. Beijing's growing interference could have a chilling effect on other nations struggling for freedom in China's shadow."China's attempted crackdown on Hong Kong has been a rare cause for unity between the parties, with both liberals and conservatives rallying to the cause of democracy and condemning Xi's increasingly authoritarian impulses."The USA cannot let this stand," Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo. and a staunch Trump ally and China hawk, wrote on Twitter. Hawley said he would introduce a Senate resolution "condemning this attempted crackdown" and calling on "all free nations to stand with" Hong Kong."This proposed legislation is a sign of Beijing's weakness, not its strength," said Rep. Eliot Engel, D-N.Y. and the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. "Hong Kong's special status is a benefit to China and the world. I don't understand why Beijing continues to imperil that status with proposals such as this."Trump's China policy has long been a battleground for dueling camps, usually featuring economic officials who favor a more conciliatory relationship and national security policymakers, led by Pompeo and senior National Security Council aides, who view China as a dangerous strategic rival that must be checked.At the height of Trump's trade negotiations with China in 2018 and 2019, the economy-centric view seemed to prevail and helped to explain Trump's repeated fulsome praise of Xi as a "brilliant leader" and a "great man."But the emergence of the coronavirus from Wuhan, and the Chinese government's initial efforts to conceal it, enraged Trump, who saw his reelection imperiled as a result, and in recent weeks the hawkish camp has pressed the theory, with no evidence, that the virus escaped from a Chinese lab.On Wednesday, the National Security Council released a White House strategy document detailing a "competitive" American approach devised in part to "to compel Beijing to cease or reduce actions harmful to the United States' vital, national interests and those of our allies and partners."The same day, the Trump administration angered Beijing by approving as much as $180 million in torpedo sales to Taiwan, whose de facto independence mainland China rejects but which the Trump administration strongly supports.Trump did not give any indication on Thursday how he will react to the congressional effort to impose sanctions.After Congress passed legislation last fall, Trump was noncommittal about whether he would sign the measure. but he eventually did on the evening before Thanksgiving, ensuring it gained minimal publicity.This time his conservative allies are more adamant than ever that Trump must not look the other way. "I think this has absolutely got to be a line in the sand," said Stephen Bannon, a former Trump White House strategist who now devotes much of his time to rallying conservatives to fight China's communist leadership.Regardless, experts said that Beijing's move would inevitably worsen a relationship that many already believe has become a kind of new Cold War."Beijing seems to have made the calculation that there is no financial price it won't pay in order to eliminate the sight of millions of Chinese clamoring for democracy on a daily basis," said Elizabeth Economy, the director for Asia studies at the Council on Foreign Relations."The Trump White House, unfortunately, has little leverage and even less influence with the Xi administration at this point," she added. "Relations between the United States and China are essentially in a free fall."This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2020 The New York Times Company
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| Syria bars Assad's cousin from travel amid financial dispute Posted: 22 May 2020 05:19 AM PDT |
| Official: Investigation of Arbery slaying finished soon Posted: 22 May 2020 04:50 AM PDT  Georgia's state investigation into the fatal shooting of Ahmaud Arbery should be finished soon, the official in charge of the inquiry said Friday while the prosecutor who will try the case in court pledged to "make sure that we find justice" for a broken family and community. Georgia Bureau of Investigation Director Vic Reynolds told a news conference that he anticipates his agency will wrap up its investigation in a "relatively short period of time." "At this point, we feel confident the individuals who needed to be charged have been charged," Reynolds said at GBI headquarters in Decatur.
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| Pakistan jet with 98 aboard crashes in crowded neighborhood Posted: 22 May 2020 03:35 AM PDT  A jetliner carrying 98 people crashed Friday in a crowded neighborhood near the airport in Pakistan's port city of Karachi after an apparent engine failure during landing. It was unknown how many people on the ground were hurt as the Pakistan International Airlines jet, an Airbus A320, plowed into an alley and destroyed at least five houses. The pilot was heard transmitting a mayday to the tower shortly before the crash of Flight 8303, which was flying from Lahore to Karachi and carrying many traveling for the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr.
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| India struggles with twin challenges of cyclone and pandemic Posted: 22 May 2020 03:29 AM PDT  Debasis Shyamal, a fisherman, forgot about social distancing. The cyclone has now dissipated. In the past 48 hours, the cyclone killed 77 people and the coronavirus nine in West Bengal, one of India's poorer states.
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| Suspected IS member arrested after being deported to Germany Posted: 22 May 2020 03:26 AM PDT |
| Friday prayers resume in Gaza despite new virus fears Posted: 22 May 2020 02:52 AM PDT  Gaza's Hamas rulers allowed mosques to reopen for Friday prayers for the first time since March, despite a recent spike in new coronavirus cases within quarantine facilities in the isolated territory. Authorities in Gaza have reported 35 new cases in recent days, bringing the total number to 55. Israel and Egypt have imposed a blockade on Gaza since Hamas, an Islamic militant group, seized power from forces loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in 2007.
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| China could buy up strategic US assets devalued by coronavirus pandemic, senators warn Steven Mnuchin Posted: 22 May 2020 02:30 AM PDT  Seven US senators have urged Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to limit Chinese companies from taking advantage of stock prices depressed by the coronavirus pandemic to buy strategic US assets.In the letter, sent on Wednesday by a group led by Republican Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, the lawmakers said they took the action after receiving "disturbing" reports that "government-backed Chinese companies are reportedly approaching banks to identify and facilitate the purchase of American and European companies affected by the pandemic".China is "looking to exploit the economic crisis wrought by the Covid-19 pandemic to gain control of distressed companies", they wrote, saying it was urgent that the US to protect against such predatory economic behaviour.The warning comes as other countries take measures to fend off expected Chinese corporate acquisition, in fear that the pandemic could present a buying opportunity for countries like China to scoop up strategically important assets " including technology, aerospace and energy " that have lost value.A Chinese-backed private equity firm was blocked from buying US-based Lattice Semiconductor in late 2017. Photo: Reuters alt=A Chinese-backed private equity firm was blocked from buying US-based Lattice Semiconductor in late 2017. Photo: ReutersThe European Union told its member governments to consider buying stakes in companies to stave off the threat. India and Australia have also warned about the need to keep key industries from falling into the hands of adversaries.As Beijing grows more vocal about its global ambitions in technology and military development under President Xi Jinping, Chinese investments in strategic sectors have become an increasingly sensitive issue in the West.The US was among the first to tighten the oversight by blocking a number of high-profile takeover proposals from Chinese buyers since Donald Trump became president, including a Chinese-backed private equity firm from buying US-based Lattice Semiconductor in late 2017.Hardliners in the White House have since gained more influence.Along with Rubio, a long-time China hawk, the other senators signing the letter were Republicans Thom Tillis, Ben Sasse, John Cornyn, Tom Cotton and Mitt Romney and Democrat Jeff Merkley.The letter was also copied to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, National Security Adviser Robert O'Brien and the director of the National Economic Council, Larry Kudlow.This article originally appeared in the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the most authoritative voice reporting on China and Asia for more than a century. For more SCMP stories, please explore the SCMP app or visit the SCMP's Facebook and Twitter pages. Copyright © 2020 South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved. Copyright (c) 2020. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.
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| Huawei's Meng Wanzhou could be set free next week by extradition ruling Posted: 22 May 2020 02:30 AM PDT |
| Biden accuser's life marred by abuse and financial hardship Posted: 22 May 2020 02:09 AM PDT  One thing is clear in the complicated, sometimes contradictory and often chaotic story of Tara Reade: Her life has not been easy. Less than a year later, Reade said, she was again the victim of abuse, assaulted by Biden in the hallway of a Senate office building — an allegation he vehemently denies.
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| Iran leader says Israel a 'cancerous tumor' to be destroyed Posted: 22 May 2020 01:57 AM PDT  Iran's supreme leader on Friday called Israel a "cancerous tumor" that "will undoubtedly be uprooted and destroyed" in an annual speech in support of the Palestinians, renewing threats against Iran's archenemy in the Middle East. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's speech marked a subdued Quds Day for Iran, which typically sees government-encouraged mass demonstrations in Tehran and elsewhere in the Islamic Republic, as well as Iranian-allied nations.
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| Sudanese media say 57 killed in fiery head-on vehicle crash Posted: 22 May 2020 12:50 AM PDT |
| AP PHOTOS: South Africa faces division again, from virus Posted: 22 May 2020 12:13 AM PDT  South Africa's coronavirus lockdown has brought a unique kind of discomfort to a country where memories of physical separation are yet to fade. Many South Africans in this youthful country did not live it, but history, and its aftermath, are never far away.
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| Tanzania says virus defeated through prayer, but fears grow Posted: 22 May 2020 12:02 AM PDT  On just one day this month, 50 Tanzanian truck drivers tested positive for the coronavirus after crossing into neighboring Kenya. Back home, their president insists that Tanzania has defeated the disease through prayer. All the while, President John Magufuli has led a crackdown on anyone who dares raise concerns about the virus's spread in his East African country or the government's response to it.
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| Despite global truce appeal, 661,000 people newly displaced Posted: 22 May 2020 12:00 AM PDT  An international aid group said Friday that about 661,000 people in 19 countries have been displaced by armed conflict in the two months since the U.N. secretary-general called for a global cease-fire to help fight the coronavirus pandemic. The ongoing large-scale displacement hurts efforts to stem the outbreak and is a "damning verdict" for international diplomacy, said Jan Egeland, the head of the Norwegian Refugee Council which counted the newly displaced. The U.N. Security Council "has not in any way supported the secretary general's call for a global coronavirus cease-fire," Egeland told The Associated Press, blaming what he said was squabbling among council members.
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